1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for managing counter information when replacing a component in an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multifunction peripheral, which is an example of an image forming apparatus, is configured from many components, some of which need to be periodically replaced. Consumed components are replaced as necessary by confirming the state of each component.
The person who replaces and cleans these components, and who manages the multifunction peripheral so that it runs normally, is a service person responsible for maintaining the multifunction peripheral. The service person periodically visits a customer to confirm the consumption level of the components.
However, there is a limit to how well the service person can visually confirm the consumption level of the components. Therefore, it has been proposed that the service person be notified of a replacement time for a component by measuring the consumption level of the components that need to be periodically replaced with the multifunction peripheral.
Specifically, counter information (hereinafter, “component counter”) is provided for each component, and each time a consumption operation is performed, the component counter associated with that is counted up. For example, for a component that is consumed each time a printing operation is performed, such as a drum in the multifunction peripheral, the counting up is based on the size of paper when the paper is fed. Generally, the service person can be notified of a component's replacement time by comparing the component counter with a predetermined upper limit for that component.
Further, the components that are managed using such a component counter are often predetermined. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-234316 discusses a technology in which a unit replacement warning message is displayed when the remaining life of at least one of the components mounted in a component unit in which a plurality of components are grouped together falls to a predetermined reference value or less.
As stated above, when replacing a component in a multifunction peripheral, the replacement operation may be performed by replacing a component unit in which a plurality of components are grouped together, as this facilitates the replacement operation. However, if the component unit has a high cost, the service person can decide to replace only the components in the unit that may need to be frequently replaced. Although such a case does not entail any new components being added to the multifunction peripheral, it does mean that during operation the number of components, each consumption level of which needs to be grasped, increases, and that a component counter that has to be managed needs to be newly added to the multifunction peripheral.
For multifunction peripherals that are already being used by customers, the new component counter is not counted-up for the consumption operations utilized until that point. Consequently, when the component counter is newly added, the component counter has a counter value when it is added that starts from zero.
However, the component corresponding to the added component counter has been thoroughly used in operations up to that point. Therefore, a discrepancy arises between the actual consumption level of the component and the value of the component counter. In this case, since the value of the component counter is less than the actual consumption level of the component, the component may break down or quality may deteriorate even though the component counter has not reached its upper limit.